Cast
Main cast
Featured cast
Plot
| "In my experience Councilman, the occult is used, more often than not, to distract law enforcement." — Holmes
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| Returning to The Brownstone in the morning, Holmes runs into Detective Grimes coming down the stairs. After Grimes leaves, Holmes confronts Watson in her bedroom and chastizes her for sleeping with Grimes as he was a candidate they were considering to replace Detective Bell. Responding to a complaint from a woman that one of her chickens was stolen from a community garden, the officers discover the chicken with its head cut off, laying next to a headless man. At the Morgue, Bell identifies the headless man as Gabriel Rojas, a professor of religion, and that the chicken head was stuffed into his neck stump. Dr. Hawes indicates Rojas was killed before being decapitated. Rojas' murder scene contained several occult signs which Holmes believes are a ruse and is an attempt to deflect attention away from the killer. Bell notes that the chicken's talons had blood on them and that a councilman wants to discuss Rojas' murder with them.
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| At the 11th Precinct, Councilman Ledesma indicates he was friends with Rojas who also consulted with the police on crimes involving the occult. Disagreeing with Holmes, he believes crimes that have occult signs are done by occult killers. Ledesma indicates that one of the occult cases Rojas consulted on has similarities to the signs at his murder and the person imprisoned from the case, Cerio Cristobal, might have followers who killed Rojas. Holmes sees Captain Gregson and recommends Lena Romero, an officer from another precinct, for Bell's replacement. Gregson sees that Holmes is looking for someone who will work well with him and Watson as Holmes annoys many of the detectives at the 11th. Bell and Watson question Cristobal in prison where he says that he never believed in the occult, just used it to try and stop bullies from tormenting him and that he has no friends.
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| At the Brownstone, as Holmes and Watson relate the lack of success finding a suspect, an empty bottle of rum is thrown through the back door window. A message on the bottle says that Father Vega knows who killed Rojas. Meeting Vega at the altar of his church, he calls Rojas a friend and indicates that the company who made the rum, Champerico, may be behind his murder. He tells Holmes and Watson that he and Rojas are both from Guatemala where Champerico has a factory with very poor working conditions. Attempts by any workers to improve wages is viciously put down by a paramilitary group, MAGL, though Champerico denies being behind their attacks. Rojas' nephew, who worked for Champerico, was taken by the MAGL so Rojas and Vega arranged for one of his nephew's friends, Valentina Duran, to come to NYC to get help to organize a union. She disappeared after she arrived and Vega thinks that Champerico's men in NYC may have killed Rojas when he looked into her disappearance.
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| At the precinct, Gregson interviews Romero and is impressed with her record and attitude. Gregson mentions that he'll be talking to her former commander, Moira Baker, which makes Romero uncomfortable. She says there's something Gregson should know that she didn't tell Holmes and Watson. Bell and Watson talk to Mallory, Duran's contact in NYC who was going to help her organize a union. She explains modern labor globalization and says that Champerico threatened NYC citizens who were lobbying for a larger alcohol excise tax that wasn't approved by city council. Holmes is able to meet with the president of Champerico, Treadwell, by faking that the meeting request came from his father, Morland. Accusing his company of the disappearance of Duran and killing Rojas, Treadwell says he can prove they weren't behind it. Holmes calls Watson to report that Duran is alive and he's at her home.
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| Duran explains that she became pregnant before she left for NYC and knowing she was a MAGL target, decided to stay in NYC. She admits that she threw the rum bottle through the window and learned of them through one of Rojas' students. Rojas found her in NYC, promised to keep her secret and she gave Rojas photos that he may have been killed over. Duran shows them photos of MAGL soldiers and Champerico security guards who were protecting a meeting of executives in Guatemala. The same men are seen in both photos. Although not conclusive proof that Champerico is using the MAGL to terrorize its workers, she gives Holmes and Watson the photos for further study. Gregson meets Moira Baker at a restaurant to hear her opinion of Detective Romero. They discuss an incident early in her career where her partner planted evidence but, she eventually reported it. Baker describes Romero as "creative" which concerns Gregson.
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| At the Brownstone, Holmes has created an evidence wall with the photos from Duran but can find nothing conclusive in them. Bell calls that Rojas' head has been found. At the scene, they see the head is in a bucket with more occult items. Councilman Ledesma is also at the scene, not wearing his toupee, having been called by Gregson. Holmes indicates that a camera has seen his bald spot before and it'll prove that Ledesma killed Rojas. At the precinct, Ledesma is confronted with the photos from Duran and the use of MAGL soldiers to terrorize Champerico workers. A man with Ledesma's bald spot is seen in the background of some of the photos, accepting a briefcase from a Champerico executive. They've confirmed that Ledesma was in Guatemala when the photos were taken, he was a strongly against the alcohol excise tax and the vote for it occurred just after his trip.
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| They believe Rojas recognized him in the photos and after confronting Ledesma, he killed him and used the occult items to mislead the investigation. Ledesma points out the evidence is circumstantial but when served with a warrant for his DNA, to see if it'll match the blood found on the chicken talons, he visibly slumps. In Gregson's office, Holmes is told by Gregson that he won't be bringing Detective Romero to the 11th. Discovering that Romero would encourage Holmes and Watson's unorthodox (and sometimes illegal) investigative style, he relates that he assigned Bell to them to ensure they wouldn't get into trouble. Gregson loves what Holmes did getting Bell a chance with the Marshals but wants a better replacement candidate. At the Brownstone, Duran offers money to pay for the broken window while Watson gives her baby items. At the precinct, Bell asks Holmes to dinner and points out they still have plenty of time to work together before he leaves for the Marshals.
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Trivia
- Valentina Duran mentions that the address of The Brownstone is posted on the ESOOPI (Empire State Order of Private Investigators) web site. ("High Heat")
Quotes
I'm not gonna call you every time I'm gonna have sex.
— Watson to Holmes
Gallery
